


What goes up but never comes down?

by Rowlett



Category: Black Clover - Tabata Yuki (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Gen, Henry is mentioned, I'm so sorry man, birthday fic for the boys, it's before the elf arc so Zora is not around, it's still 10/04 here so my fic is still valid
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-04
Updated: 2019-10-04
Packaged: 2020-11-23 22:16:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,050
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20896991
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rowlett/pseuds/Rowlett
Summary: (Your age)When plans for a surprise birthday party are involved with many headaches for Klaus, a full course meal from Charmy, and a dungeon that forgot to bring enemies and decided that riddles would be much more life-threatening.





	What goes up but never comes down?

“Alright, pay attention!” Said an exasperated Klaus. If someone didn’t know about his position, they would most likely think he was a high school teacher. “Today is an important day for both of our teams. Do any of you know exactly why?”

The man reuniting with the Black Bulls adjusted his glasses while waiting for an answer. The first one to come up with something was Luck, and Klaus had to quickly say it wasn’t something related to fighting, making the other man lower his arm. The second one was Vanessa, making the other Golden Dawn member be very uncomfortable due to her habit of walking around only in her underwear.

“Why, it’s our boy’s birthday, of course,” even sober, Vanessa was still holding her liquor. “And Asta shares this important date with the handsome young man from your team, right?”

“That would be correct,” Klaus adjusted his glasses again. “They apparently arrived at their church on the same day and thus, sharing the same birthday. That would be wonderful if they actually bothered to remind us of this date!”

The other Black Bulls were amused at the energy of that senior. Now he was murmuring something about Yuno not taking care of himself properly or being social. It’s true, in their case, Asta loved to help his friends and family, but he only talked about himself on rare occasions. 

Magna once thought it was because of some kind of complex but no, it’s only because Asta never thought about his past as something that was important enough to share. They only knew about his poor childhood in the church, growing up together with Yuno and other kids. Something about that made Magna angry. “I know right!” And said anger made him sync well with the other Knight. “Once he is back, he is going to tell us everything! Even about his favorite food!”

“Oh, that’s tatoes.” Said Charmy from a comfortable distance.

Magna looked at her. “Charmy, stop eating and join us.”

“Nu-uh. You guys don’t have food.”

What a complicated woman, Magna thought. But then he saw Big Sis Vanessa come to the rescue. “Chaaarmy, you are the most important part of our plan~! Without you, Asta and that handsome prince of yours won’t have food for their birthday~!”

She was truly diabolical. Magna could see the way Charmy’s eyes sparkled, almost as if she found a fountain of eternal food. After a small conversation and quite a few jumps, he could see the smaller woman walking towards their kitchen, singing to no one “My meal saving prince will get food, my meal saving prince will get food~”.

“Ahem,” coughed Klaus, trying to gather their attention to him again. “Thank you for the cooperation. I made this plan together with Mimosa, but I never expected to get such an, well, energetic response.”

“Hey hey,” came Luck’s voice. “Can we fight them as a birthday present?”

Klaus sighed. This would be a long day.

“In any case,” said Vanessa, coming back from her second bottle of vodka. “I wish Captain Yami could join us for the preparations. Did he go together with Finral to the dungeon?”

“Nah,” answered Magna. “He said he was going to buy a gift.”

“... And. What about the other members?” Asked Klaus.

Magna waved at that. “Gauche is cleaning his collection of Marie dolls. No, don’t ask about it, I don’t understand it either. Finral had the job of leaving Asta and Noelle inside of the dungeon for distraction and will most likely wait for them. Gray is inside of her room because she is too shy but she will wish him a happy birthday too.”

At the corner of the room, Gordon was murmuring something and giving a thumbs up. Klaus couldn’t hear what the other man was saying but he appreciated the sentiment, whatever it was.

Right, the plan was quite simple. Klaus and Mimosa found out about a dungeon that was near the border with the Diamond Kingdom and asked their captain to make that a co-op mission with the Black Bulls. Something about “reinforcing their friendship”, a topic that Captain Vegeance liked a lot for some reason. That would be the perfect distraction. With Asta, Noelle, Mimosa and Yuno fighting inside of the dungeon, the rest of their friends would make the preparations for their birthday party (inside of the Black Bulls’ base because the Golden Dawn members were made of assholes, according to Mimosa’s angry face at the thought of hosting it anywhere near their headquarters).

He could hear a bump coming from the room. It was Luck, trying to fight Magna, who was trying to get the empty bottles that were left behind by Vanessa somewhere else. Suddenly he wished that Mimosa was the one doing this, a dungeon with mortal perils sounded much easier at the moment.

-*-

“This dungeon is… pretty boring.”

Noelle was not amused. She was actually pretty eager to show her new spells and get some reaction out of Asta (not because she wanted to show off or anything, no way!).

_Please say the date of when Clover Kingdom was founded. _

_Oh, I know this one! It’s in Golden Dawn’s Library… _

_How much is 20 x 4? _

_Eighty. _

_Please name the flower that is named after the sun. _

_Sunflower! _

_Not fair, Mimosa and Yuno are the only ones answering them! _

_Maybe you should study more, weed. _

_What did you say, jerk?! _

But instead, they got a dungeon made of riddles. Riddles. They could advance to the next floors only if they got the right answers. They were there to fight against possible monsters or invaders of the Diamond Kingdom, not participate in some quiz competition.

“You are sounding like Luck, Noelle!”

Asta heard that? Crap, did she say that out loud?

“That’s only your imagination,” she said, trying to keep the dignity that was left.

Mimosa chuckled at her cousin. “It’s not that bad. Knowledge is also a powerful weapon for a Magic Knight. Imagine all the powerful spells that we can develop if we know how the elements work? For example, if we follow the atomic structure-”

“Be careful,” interrupted Yuno. “I can already see smoke coming out from Asta’s ears.”

Noelle fought the urge to not laugh at that.

“Hey, I’m still here!”

Mimosa made a shocked face, that Noelle didn’t know if it was genuine or not. “That’s terrible, I’m sorry, Asta!”

Asta made a face that indicated betrayal, and Noelle felt the urge to laugh increasing. Usually he bounced off well with the other Black Bulls members but she figured that if there was someone out there that knew how to get under his skin, it would be his childhood friend.

In any case, it was because of these two they were in this dungeon now, so she should distract them as much as she could.

“Alright, enough is enough,” Noelle called while clapping her hands. “Let’s go, we don’t know how many floors we have until the treasure chamber so we should hurry.”

Asta pumped his fist to the air. “Gotcha! Let’s go, what is the next riddle?”

Noelle got close to the wall - it was a door, she thought. There were letters written on it and she was thankful they could still understand the language.

_ What is easy to get into, but hard to get out?_

Three answers came automatically. “Asta.”

The boy in question only got confused. ‘What? Why is my name the answer here?!”

Yuno made a gesture towards the door. “It wasn’t. But it fits.”

“Whaaaat?!”

Noelle ignored the discussion behind her and tried to concentrate. As much as that joke was funny, she was at a loss. She wasn’t good with riddles, she never had anyone to talk with about them before. She gave a look to Mimosa, but her cousin only looked as lost as herself. And the other two were as useful as background noise at the moment.

“No, seriously Yuno, why was my name the answer?!”

“Like I said, it wasn’t. Don’t make people explain the joke, idiot.”

“Oh, come on! It’s not any trouble to explain, is it?!”

“Oi, Asta…”

They heard a loud noise coming from the door, almost as if someone kicked it. Noelle took that as a sign to get far from it.

The door opened slowly, and the four stared at it almost as if it was going to grow teeth and eat them.

“So my name was really the answer! Why?!” Yelled a frustrated Asta.

“No, I don't think it's that,” said a pensive Noelle. “Trouble, trouble… Oh right, the answer was the word _ trouble _!”

Mimosa looked at Noelle, who was proud of herself for the discovery. “If it wasn’t for you two bickering, we would probably be still thinking about the answer. Thank you, you two.”

Asta gave a thumbs up, but Noelle was sure he still didn’t understand what was going on. Meanwhile, Yuno gave his trademark deadpan sigh.

“You can’t be serious…”

Mimosa gave his shoulder a light pat. “Sometimes the answer for our problems are more obvious than what we think!” She said cheerfully. With another thing in mind, she turned her head towards Asta. “Oh yes, Asta. We made that joke with good intentions. In fact, it’s because we--”

Before she could continue, Noelle found her hands touching Yuno’s. Apparently, both of them had decided to stop Mimosa’s mouth from going any further.

-*-

Mimosa would never understand the other two. They were clearly full of respect for Asta, but kept acting like a cool, apathetic old man (Yuno) and a stubborn _ tsundere _(Noelle).

Well, if things were going to be like this, then she would take her chance to be together with Asta without any rivalries between them!

… One day, that is.

For now, they needed to concentrate on completing the task at hand.

They walked around the floor, not seeing any sign of enemies, monsters or anything of the sort. “It seems like the riddles are the only challenge in this dungeon,” she said. It was quite convenient, she didn't want to arrive at the birthday party with the two boys looking completely exhausted. But still, Mimosa was worried about how much time they would spend there.

Fortunately, after Noelle made sure they wouldn’t get lost in the dungeon for the third time that day, they arrived at the next door.

_ A barrel of water weighs 20 pounds. What must you add to it to make it weigh 12 pounds?_

Noelle stared at the letters on the door. “Is this a math problem?”

Asta looked at Yuno, face defeated.

The other boy didn’t seem amused. “What?”

“You're the one good at math here, Mr. Multi-talented.”

Yuno suddenly had a smug grin on his face, making Mimosa feel relieved. He knew the answer for the problem? Maybe they can finish this mission on time and go back--

“I have no idea what that means.”

There he said it, still with the smug face.

Mimosa could tell from looking at Noelle that she looked like she was on the verge of punching him with a water spell. Before that could happen, the other royal shouted “You’re not supposed to be proud of it!”

That was it, they were going to die there. If she saw any more riddles. Mimosa would use her only attack spell to destroy the door by force and the dungeon would most likely fall on their heads. Sweet oblivion, maybe she could finally be free of her older brother this way-

“I know the answer!”

-That was Asta’s voice. Mimosa looked at him perplexed - he knew the answer? “Asta, how do you know?”

The other boy gave Mimosa a grin, one that made her heart flutter like many times before. Whatever it was, she was sure that it would make her proud.

Asta took a deep breath with his mouth and shouted. “Holes!”

Silence at that.

Noelle was the first to break it. “Excuse me?”

“Holes!” Exclaimed Asta. “If you want to make a barrel lose weight, you need to make holes so the water can leave it!”

“That’s the dumbest answer I’ve heard today, Stupidasta! It’s obvious they don’t-!”

“It’s open.”

Yuno’s deadpan voice gave a sign to the door, open in all its glory. Mimosa decided to just ignore the other bickering pair and run towards the exit of that floor.

-*-

After many other riddles that somehow were solved by Asta’s incredible determination and pure, dumb luck, the group arrived at the treasure chamber. That was finally the last room for this mission, and Yuno was grateful for it.

Not only because of how stressful that dungeon was, but because there was no way he would have forgotten what day it was. It was their birthday. Sure, he didn’t care about presents and Mimosa and Klaus were always busy with the missions for the Golden Dawn. He wouldn’t bother them with the small, personal information.

However, for Asta, that was a different story. He knew the other boy would love anything to do with magic, be it items for cleaning a house to even a magic broom. However, last time he’d decided to give something of this nature, Asta got that disappointed face days later because he couldn’t use said magic item.

Books wouldn’t do, and food was too generic. However, with that mission, he would have the chance of giving something of value inside of that dungeon. He would need to thank Klaus and Mimosa later, even if they didn’t sign them up for this with this objective in mind.

“Bell,” he called the spirit inside of his Grimoire. “Do you know anything of value here?”

The small spirit materialized herself on his shoulder, frustration clear on her face. Apparently she wasn’t happy about helping Yuno give presents to someone that wasn’t her. He would need to have a talk with her later, about manners.

He could see Bell flying around the place, looking for possible objects. Well, as long as she could help, everything would be fine.

She came back with a small object. That was...

-*-

Asta could see Yuno looking around the dungeon, searching for something. Did he think about the same thing? was he looking for a gift too?

To be honest, Asta would be incredibly happy with whatever he would get. It meant his friends remembered him! Days ago he got letters from sister Lily and the kids at Hage, and he confirmed with Yuno that he also got the same letters, wishing them a happy birthday. Honestly, that was enough for Asta, especially with how poor their entire lives were and how resources to send letters could be expensive sometimes. Plus, his family in the Black Bulls were always giving him good memories, what else could he ask for?

… Maybe some fancy bike like Magna’s? OK no, that was too much.

In any case, Asta kept looking for something that he could get for Yuno. Stores were a big no-no. People in the Golden Dawn probably had access to all the magic items in the stores, anyway. And he knew his friend liked books, but his squad had a big library from what he heard from Mimosa. 

No, Asta was going to get an _ awesome _present! Something that no one in the Golden Dawn could win against!

The issues was what exactly he could get for Yuno, though.

He asked Noelle, he asked Mimosa, and he asked Klaus. The latter got angry at the fact he never mentioned their birthday before but hey, it’s not like he ever thought it was important. He knew how busy everyone in the Golden Dawn was, so really, it’s not like he was hiding.

In any case, none of them could think about something to give Yuno. He was too secretive. 

It was at that moment he remembered. Klaus used glasses, right? And he needed a place to keep them while sleeping and taking a bath, right?

Maybe he could use that!

-*-

The group finally finished their research around the treasure chamber, and found nothing worthwhile to report. Mimosa and Noelle did their best to save the most important parts of the treasure, such as magic scrolls, ancient books and other items.

However, as soon as they touched a specific place… Noelle couldn’t remember if it was on the floor or on the wall, but it was similar to a switch. As soon as they touched it accidentally, the entire dungeon started to collapse. They tried their best to run away as soon as they could with Yuno’s magic, but the room closed itself and they were locked inside of it.

Before Noelle could conjure a spell to destroy the walls, a giant golem appeared out of nowhere.

A giant, black Golem. It looked like an ancient knight in full armor, holding a lance. Getting ready for the battle, the group opened their Grimoires.

Only to see the Golem sitting down, in _ seiza _position, summoning a huge white platform.

“Brave warriors of this land,” it said. “Will you choose victory or oblivion? Your fate rests on the shoulders of this test!”

Mimosa noticed the third silence of that day. She was the one that broke it, voice almost breaking from irritation. “Excuse me, are you going to give us another riddle?”

“Precisely,” the Golem answered, and the group grimmaced. The wish to face oblivion seemed good at that moment, but they decided to keep pushing further.

“Translate this to the language of the Clover Kingdom.”

お誕生日おめでとうございます

“Wait!” Exclaimed Asta. “That’s Captain Yami’s language! Of his hometown, I mean!!”

Mimosa was with her Grimoire open, in case anyone got hurt. “Nice, Asta! So you can translate?”

“Not at all! Noelle, help!!”

His friend was not that much better. “I- I have no idea how to translate that!”

Asta looked at Yuno. The answer was negative. “Not a chance.”

The group was prepared to fight that Golem as soon as it noticed they didn’t know the answer. 

A loud _ thud! _could be heard from the ceiling, and suddenly the rays of the sun were inside the dungeon. Asta didn’t know what was happening, but he could feel the wind and a familiar Ki.

“Captain Yami?!”

The other three followed the direction of the shadow that was inside of the dungeon at that moment. It most likely came from the hole inside of it, and there it was, Captain of the Black Bulls, Yami Sukehiro, with his trustworthy _ katana _and Grimoire open.

“Yo, brats. Still alive?”

-*-

“I leave for a few minutes and you almost die, brat. Any last words?”

“Please don’t kill me, Captain Yami! That last riddle was terrible!”

Finral had no idea what had just happened. In one minute, he was taking a nap near a tree and waiting for the group to be finished inside of the dungeon. The next, Captain Yami appears and asks gently “Open a portal to inside of the dungeon or you’re dead”.

The next thing, he comes out of the dungeon carrying four people at the same time. He could swear he saw the handsome childhood friend of Asta with his face so red, he probably wanted to die inside of the dungeon instead of being carried like a sack of potatoes.

Noelle, poor Noelle, didn’t have any reaction because she was probably used to it by now.

And after checking everyone was safe and without injuries, Yami tried to injure Asta himself, holding his head with only one hand as if he was holding a ball of volley.

“Hey, hey, Captain Yami, it’s alright,” said Finral, waving and trying to stay between the two men. “Everyone is alright, so let’s just go back and report the mission-”

“Do you want to die too?”

“Eeeeh?!”

Yami stopped his torture on Asta’s head and took a small box from inside his pockets. “Here, brat,'' he gestured the box towards Asta. “Here you go. Happy birthday, or however people say around here.”

Asta’s eyes sparkled almost as if he suddenly got a thousand Yules. “Ooooh thank you, Captain Yami!”

Inside the box there were two coupons, apparently to eat for free in some restaurant in the capital. Yami gestured towards Yuno. “Didn’t know what ya liked, so I got this. It’s useful at least.”

Yuno bowed. “Thank you, sir.”

“Thank yoooou!”

-*-

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY!”

Once they were back at the Black Bulls’ headquarters, the group was welcomed with a peculiar scene. All of its members plus Klaus were wearing birthday hats, most likely confectioned by Vanessa, and each one had the color of their respective elements. Gordon seemed depressed because his was black and purple, but nothing that could be done about it.

“Happy birthday!” Klaus was crying. “You have no idea how it was to prepare everything with all these people! Asta, Noelle, I truly admire the both of you!”

Noelle noticed how the poor man was full of different types of ingredients: bread on his glasses, something similar to tomato juice on his clothes, and many other colors from food that was most likely from Charmy. And talking about Charmy, she was behind a table with a full course meal prepared for them and yelling something about her “meal-saving prince and servants”.

“We all prepared this surprise for the both of you!” Said a cheerful Mimosa, with a hand on Noelle’s shoulder. “Happy birthday!”

Finral pointed to a group of boxes near the table. “Oh, let’s open the gifts!”

“Not now, Finral!” said Vanessa. “Let’s first eat, or it will go cold! And our dear Golden Dawn Knight needs to clean up.”

Klaus finally stopped crying and nodded. “Yes, please!”

Asta smiled at the entire scene, with his family slowly gathering around the dinner table, alongside Mimosa and a reluctant Klaus that was trying to get the dirt out of his clothes. And, if his imagination was not making any pranks, he could swear the walls moved a little so everyone could be more comfortable. That was most likely Henry wishing him a happy birthday as well.

“They are a wild bunch,” said a deadpan Yuno.

Asta could see a small hint of a smile on his friend’s face, though. “They are! I’m so glad they took the time to prepare all of this for us!”

“Right,” said Yuno, taking a small thing from inside his bag. “This is for you, by the way. Happy birthday.”

Asta looked at the item that was being given to him. It looked like a transparent pyramid, but with a light green almost as if to represent a clover, the symbol of their kingdom. Yuno probably noticed the confusion on his face and said. “It’s a healing item. You are always getting hurt on missions and I can’t help much, so here. Ask someone to use it on you next time. It’s useful, isn’t it?”

With that last line, Asta followed the gaze of his friend. Yuno was looking at his arms, and Asta remembered that he heard about the curse of his arms only when they were already healed. Was that what this was about?

He was truly blessed with great friends in this life.

“Thanks a bunch, Yuno! So you can be soft after all,” said Asta, taking the item and grinning at how his friend avoided looking at him, most likely embarrassed. “I have a present for you, too!”

Asta took the gift from inside his pocket. It was a small box, made to protect whatever could be put inside. “That necklace of yours is very important, right? So I figured you would want it to be safe and sound any time you were not near it.”

Yuno stared at the box for too long, Asta thought. Maybe he didn’t like it?

Before he could ask, however, Yuno took it and smiled, without any smug this time. “I don’t really part from this thing-” he pointed at the necklace, “-but this is useful. I’ll treasure it. Thanks, Asta.”

The two friends grinned at each other and joined the others for the meal. That day was one of their few free days, and it certainly could have been spent without life-threatening riddles, but it was definitely worth it.

**Author's Note:**

> The riddle as a title was terrible, I know.
> 
> Thank you VERY MUCH, Dreizehn, for being my beta.
> 
> Happy birthday for the best pair of rivals in recent shonen story. Yuno's novel is probably coming around by december, I can't wait to read it.


End file.
